Final Goodbye
by moonlightbeam305
Summary: Katherine's back and she's determined to have Damon. Damon's determined to see Elena one last time and is going to do whatever it takes to keep her safe. Regardless of anyone's feelings. Katherine/Damon Damon/Elena
1. Chapter 1

A/N: Yes! First fanfic! I'm terribly sorry if the writing for this story is awful. My goal in life is to get at least _one _story published; this is just one way to find out if that dream is pointless or not. Please review. A couple pointers are highly welcomed, just _please_ don't make them insulting. Sorry for boring you with all of these personal notes. Enjoy the story!

Disclaimer: I do not belong any of the characters in this story, nor do I own Vampire Diaries. I'm just experimenting.

Damon Salvatore stared down at his phone in what seemed like an endless amount of time. He thought about everything and nothing at the same time. A million thoughts formed in his head, but none of them showed in his dark, bottomless black eyes. He was emotionless, cold; but only on the outside. Inside, he was a bundle of nerves and mixed emotions. Slowly, he began to type into his phone.

**She's back, I'm leaving**

Suddenly, two slender arms wrapped around his neck and a hot, moist tongue traced the shell of his ear, "It's time. Let's go."

Her cold, little hands ran down his arm, tracing the bulge of his muscles. Her legs nudged their way into the crevice of his legs and she tried to pry his face towards her own. Slowly, very slowly, he turned his body towards her.

Her long, curly hair framed her face and her head was tilted coyly on the side. She held an innocent expression on her face as she moved her hands all over his body. Fake. All fake.

Damon didn't move at all. He didn't move a muscle. He ignored all of her touches and slowly, very slowly, curled his fingers on his phone, until he heard the satisfying crunch. He dropped his now useless phone on the floor and finally spoke. "I'm saying goodbye to her."

Katherine's innocent and coy expression dropped and she looked her usual, cold and dangerous, "_Why _Damon? She belongs to Stefan now." She smirked at the murderous expression on Damon's face.

Damon snarled, grabbing Katherine's neck in a vice-like grip and slamming her into the nearby wall in his house. "I am _seeing _her one last time." His normally fathomless black eyes were swarmed with unusual emotions. He looked angry, desperate, frustrated, and, dare I say it? A little terrified. Katherine felt a shiver go down her spine.

"Damn that's sexy," she breathed in his ear.

Snarling one last time, Damon slammed her into the wall, shaking all of the plates and mirrors, and let her fall to the ground. He stalked towards the door and was about to yank it open before a pair of unnaturally strong hands slammed the door shut. Damon roared in fury and was about to yank onto her hair before she disappeared once again. This time, she reappeared before him, grabbing his arms back painfully and pulling his head back and forcing his lips on hers.

They both moaned at the contact and met each other's tongues heatedly. Somewhere along the lines, Katherine ended up with her legs wrapped around Damon's waist as he started to kiss lower, moving down her neck. "I hate you" he hissed, violently biting down on her neck with his newly grown fangs. Katherine moaned, deeply, "But you fuck me so well."

In a flash, Damon dropped Katherine on the floor and headed out the door. "Well that was fun," he said with his signature smirk, "But I have some things I have to take care of. Don't wait up."

He walked out, slamming the door on Katherine's bewildered face feeling much better


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: Thank you for everyone who took the time to read this lil story :D

**123nena: **Thank you for being my first reviewer :D and yes, as you can see, I am going to continue this story. And Delena is AWESOME, although there will be a hint of Katherine/Damon

**DustyMoonlight: **Thanks for reviewing, and yes, I did change the rating. Thanks for the pointer!

**Loonynerdxd9: **Thanks for the encouragement! It made my day

Damon Salvatore stood outside of the window, feeling for the first time in a century, hesitation. One fist stood poised for knocking, but he didn't move it. Instead, he stood as still as a statue waiting for _her _to notice him, even though he could enter at will. She laid oblivious on her bed, doing what she normally did on a Saturday night, writing in her diary and listening to her IPod, but she looked strangely…anxious about something. Damon couldn't help but feel, not exactly happy, but content that she cared enough to...miss him? None-the-less, she was peacefully unaware in the lone figure waiting outside her window.

_(3 hours ago, after receiving Damon's message)_

Elena stared at her phone feeling unwanted emotions.

**She's back. I'm leaving**

_He's…leaving? _But, how could he? How could he leave us with..._her_? Even in her thoughts her name left a bitter taste in her mouth. How could heave leave Mystic Falls unprotected? How could he leave Stefan _again? How could he leave…me?_ Elena quickly shut down that trail of thought. Whatever Damon did wasn't any of her business.

But Elena _had _come to care about Damon's well being. She came to think of him as a…_friend. But would a __friend__ leave you all alone with_ her?That nasty voice spoke to her snidely. Elena ignored said voice. Throughout the times she had shared with him, she had come to enjoy the sound of his voice and grew chills in her chest when he laughed. She wouldn't go as far as to say she was in _love _with him, she was still loyal to Stefan! But she couldn't stop the…fluttery feeling when she thought of him. Now, that feeling was accompanied by a cold wave of fear at the thought of him leaving. Almost subconsciously, the thought of him leaving was accompanied by the thought of _Katherine_ here.

Elena couldn't help but shudder with all of the emotions that sprung up at the mention of _her_ name. Elena…she, she…_hated _her. She hated how she hurt the ones she loved (yes, she compromised by saying she loved Damon as a friend) and how she left them heartbroken. She hated how she left them thinking she was locked up in a tomb when really she was traveling the world, without giving a fuck about the two brothers that she left heartbroken. She hated how she was responsible for Damon unable to love others and how she made both brothers vulnerable. She absolutely _loathed _Katherine. And now, Katherine was taking away one person that she loved. _But Damon wanted to go_. The same nasty voice sneered in her head.

Elena started shaking. _No. No. No. NO! He couldn't! He wouldn't! Damon! Don't…please…just don't go!_

Elena threw herself on her bed and started to cry silently. She cried about everything. She cried about the things that her lover and his brother lost; she cried about the things she was about to lose; she cried out of rage, desperately hoping that Katherine would drop dead…err dead_er_. But mostly, she cried for Damon. She cried because of the inappropriate emotions that poured out of her chest when she thought about him, things that she was only supposed to feel for Stefan. She cried because she would never get to explore those feelings. And she cried because she never knew if she was going to see him again.

And with an anguished cry, she screamed one word that has left her with all of these intense emotions,

"_**DAMON!"**_

Damon flinched as he heard the sound of his name being screamed into the sky. He knew that it was _her _that screamed. He heard the pain and anguish in her voice and knew that he was responsible for it. Every bone in his body was screaming to run after her, scoop her in his arms and say that everything was going to be okay. But he didn't do any of those things. He stood, still as a statue, and waiting for the sounds of her distressed cries to cease, and when they did, he listened to the rhythm of her ragged breathing, signally sleep.

He didn't leave until the moon was high into the sky and Elena woke up from her pain induced sleep and wrote in her diary, like any other night. If it wasn't for the erratic beating of her heart, the ragged breathing, and the fact that he could hear the music blasting from her headphones all the way out into the forest, he would assume that she had taken the news well. Damon 'tsked' slightly. Didn't she know that it was unhealthy to listen to music that loud? And with that note…

Damon took a deep, unnecessary breath, and jumped out of the tree he was currently perched on. He started towards the direction of Elena Gilbert's house. _It was time._

Elena started when she saw the dark, ominous figure perched outside her window, and slammed her diary shut, yanking her ear plugs out simultaneously. She let out the breath she didn't know she was holding when she found out that said 'dark, ominous figure' was Damon.

Opening her window, she greeted Damon as casually as she can, hoping he didn't notice she spoke through the lump in her throat, "Geez, Damon! Give a girl a heart attack why don't ya?"

Either Damon didn't acknowledge her joking tone or he knew that it was not the right time. Most likely the latter, Elena thought with dread. She didn't know if her heart could take anymore distress tonight. Taking a deep breath, she pat down a spot next to her on her bed and gestured for Damon to sit next to her, he complied. Sitting down next to each other was the most comforting, yet awkward feeling ever. It was comforting to both of them because it gave them both the feeling that the inevitable was never going to happen. That Damon wasn't going to leave and Damon wasn't going to leave Elena.

After a moment of tense silence, Elena broke and threw herself on top of Damon. Damon caught her with a brief moment of surprise and let her cling to him.

Elena's fake happy face broke and a whole new wave of tears came. She buried her face in his leather jacket and _sobbed. _She didn't care that he was her boyfriend's brother and that she cared about him waayy more than what was appropriate. All she cared about was that this would probably be the last time she would see him and that he was _here_, with _her_. She sobbed until she ran out of tears, hiccupping slightly, and clinging to the fact that he was returning her frantic embrace. They stayed in comfortable silence, thinking the exact, yet _entirely_ different thoughts.

Damon didn't know what to think when Elena threw herself in his arms. To say he was surprised was an understatement. He was bewildered. Confused. And he cursed the fact that he was having second guesses about leaving. He had to. It was for the best, for her and for him. She didn't deserve him. She deserved someone _good_, someone to make her happy. Even if, he grudgedly admitted to himself, that person was his brother. He had no doubt that he could make her happy, the proof was right here in his arms, but he knew he wasn't considered 'good.'

_She's crying an awful lot for someone who hates me_, he mused silently but then frowned, _if she hates me, then why is she allowing me to hold her?_ Granted she threw herself at me.

Damon gently slid her out of his grasp, letting her sit upright. She hiccupped again, desperately trying to dry her tears up without him noticing. A gentle smile, one that surprised him, appeared on his face and he gently wiped the tear off of her face for her. He watched her take a deep breath to steady her voice and waited for the accusations to spew out. Knowing her strong personality and her impulsiveness, he assumed that he was in _serious _trouble. Bracing himself for the smack that was surely to come, he was rewarded with the most shocking thing he had ever heard in his life.

"Why would you leave me?"

And with that, every shield he had put up due to _centuries _of hard work, broke down and waves of…_feelings_ came crashing down. There were too many to decipher, all he knew was that he was being crushed, _crushed _from the feelings pouring down. Wave after wave of pain and hurt crashing down, all of the pain he had chosen to _stop _feeling came back with vengeance. He felt his betrayal when he found out that Katherine had chosen both him _and _Stefan. Despair when he found out that Katherine _wasn't _in the tomb. The fury when his brother had _forced _him to become a vampire. The fear when he woke up, thirsty for blood, and hundreds of more emotions following. He felt like he was being staked and stabbed by mini toothpicks in all of the available space in his body, it was all he could do to not break down and _scream_ from pain. But…as soon as it came, it went, like a switch.

Instead, waves of – of _happiness, joy…love_ came crashing down. But instead of being tossed into a harsh hurricane of feelings, he was being luxuriated in a gently shower of those emotions. Meeting Katherine for the first time- no scratch that, meeting _Elena _for the first time. With that thought, all of his memories, the happy ones, of Elena came crashing down. He witnessed all of her laughs and smiles and finally realized….he was in _love_ with her. Startled by the revelation, he didn't snap out of it until Elena's started to shake him. Realizing what she had asked him, he spoke the truth. The cold, hard truth that killed a part of him inside.

"It's for the best…I'm leaving you, because it's for the best."

A/N: This chapter was longer than the first one, but then again, the first one was just an introduction thing…soo, how did you guys like this chapter? Sorry if it was a little hard to follow and understand, I just wrote what flowed through my head. What did you think about Damon "opening up his feelings?" Review Please! It helps me know how I can improve my writing :D


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: I'm thinking…only one more chapter after this one, except that there's going to be a little epilogue after this. Beware of some poorly written angst and my fail at romance. **

**Disclaimer: I do not own, in any form or shape, the Vampire Diaries.**

Elena stood in horrifying disbelief. _Damon was leaving…because it was for the best?___Elena felt fury grip at her chest and she barely refrained from growling at the sight of the totally resigned and distant look on Damon's face. Without warning, Elena's hand snapped back and she slapped Damon hard across the face. Hard enough for his face to snap to the side and a red handprint to appear on his face. She didn't care about the growing horror in her chest about what she had just done. Those…_words_! Those incredibly _stupid_, the DUMBEST thing Damon had ever said in his entire LIFE!

"How," Elena couldn't stop the trembling in her voice, "How _dare_ you say that leaving me is for the best."

"NO!" Elena shouted as Damon opened his mouth to probably defend himself, "How _dare_ you think that you know what's best for _me!_ You have never been "wrong" for me or whatever shit _she _made you believe. Throughout the months that I have known you, you have never been a mistake in my life! I don't give a shit about what you have to say! If you're going to leave, you are _not_ going to leave because you think it's the best for _me! _I don't care about how you were back then, what matters is _now_, and right now, you are one of the best things that have ever happened to me before! So don't even think that leaving is doing the right thing for me. Because if you do…it'll be the stupidest thing you have ever done in your life, and I will not _stand_ for it!"

Without warning, Elena threw herself at Damon again and wrapped her arms around his neck. "I don't care what you think. You have never been my mistake and you will never be. Just…don't ever forget that."

….

Damon didn't know what to do after she had thrown herself at him, the _second_ time tonight, if he would dare brag. He let her hang off of his neck and provided a strong structure for her to hold on to. She was clinging to him as if it wouldn't make him leave. _If only_, he thought grimly.

"Elena," he began, oddly gentle, "Princess, you have to listen to me."

Elena muffled a negative against his neck.

_Down boys, down. _Damon warned his fangs (A/N: Lol, what were you thinking?)

Sighing, Damon began the tedious task of removing her arms around his neck.

_She's like a leech, that girl_ Damon grimaced as he finally pried her arms off of his neck.

He pulled Elena into his lap and smiled gently when she curled up into his chest, he began to run his fingers through the silky texture of her milky brown hair. He savored the fact that this would be his only time being able to ever do this. He chuckled gently as she began to quietly purr at the treatment she was receiving at his hands. It was obviously very relaxing to her.

"As I was saying, Princess. No, no you have to listen." He pulled Elena out of the crook of his neck that she tried to hide her face in. He couldn't help, but raise an eyebrow at her unusual behavior. What would Stefan say to this? "When I said I was leaving, I meant it was the best for the both of us." Damon tried to ignore the hurt noise she made at the back of her throat.

"No, it's the truth. I don't deserve you. You deserve someone good in your life…even if that person is my brother," Elena laughed at the 'yuck' face he made at the mention of his brother, before quickly sobering up, "You'll be happier without me."

Elena pulled away and glared angrily and Damon, "How in _hell_ will I be happier without you? Stefan…Stefan doesn't make me as happy as you do!" Elena gasped. Did she just say what she think she did?

Damon sat still, compensating this. If what she said was the truth, then he was in real trouble. How could he leave now? How could he leave knowing he just made his Princess of Darkness unhappy? Shit, he was really going to have to say it now…

"I am happier with Katherine." Damon didn't care what Elena had to say, what she was saying now…she didn't mean. She's not going to care whether I stayed or not in five, maybe ten years. She'll live her life happily ever after because the big bad monster took away the two biggest evil in her life. She was going to thank him for this later. He could only hope.

"That's a lie!"

"Is it, now? And how do you know that?" Damon had to raise an eyebrow at that, and he thought _he _was stubborn.

"Because! I _know_ you care about me too! It can't just be her!"

Damon sighed, already knowing he was losing this battle. "Look, sweetheart, I _do _care about you. But, because I care, I have to let you go. You're safer with Stefan. You're safer with me out of your life.

Elena's bottom lip trembled, "I don't care who I'm safer with! I want _you_! Dammit! I don't even _want_ Stefan anymore! It's been _you!_ Always you! Straight from the beginning!"

Damon raised an eyebrow, "Oh yeah?"

"_Yes_!" Elena cried.

"And how do I know you're not just saying this to make me stay?"

They stared at each other for an endless amount of time. Finally, Elena broke the tense silence.

"Kiss me."

**A/N: Ohh! The suspense! I know it's short, but please Read and Review! Tell me what you think of this story, and I guarantee that the next chappie will hopefully be better than this crappy piece :/ Now enough with the self-hate…**

**Thanks to: looneynerdxd9, lina89, and 123nenagirl for reviewing**


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Sorry for the delay people. No inspiration :/ Sadly, this one is fairly short as well, but it brought me into the next part if I need to finish this story. One more chappie to go :D**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Vampire Diaries in any form or shape**

Final Goodbye: Chapter 4

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><p>Damon looked away from Elena in shame. He couldn't do it. He just couldn't.<p>

"Elena, when you kiss me…I want you to mean it. Not just a way to make me stay."

Elena stared at him, anger in her eyes. How could he do this to her?

"Fine." She said coldly, "Whatever. If everything we've gone through, everything I did for you means so little to you, just leave. Leave with the backstabbing bitch who abandoned you to die! Since none of the shit we've gone through with you means anything…just go!" she turned away so he couldn't see her tears, she couldn't do this, "just go." She whispered wiping tears from her eyes. She pushed him off of her bed.

Before she could change her mind about what she had just said, she felt a breeze that wasn't natural wind in her room and she opened her eyes again.

She was alone.

…

"Damn it, Elena! Damn it, damn it, damn it! FUCK!" Damon roared obviously pissed off. He paced back and forth relentlessly and finally struck out, punching at a nearby tree. He hissed when he felt the splinters dig their way into his knuckles.' _Damn the fucking wood, too' _Damon thought sullenly.

…

'_Where was he?'_ Katherine thought, beyond pissed off. When he went off to see Elena one last time, she had hoped that he wasn't going to fall head over heels with that _human_ girl again. Her doppelganger.

She wasn't stupid. She knew how that girl- _Elena_- played her boys like they were a game. _'Which, of course, is totally true'_ Katherine giggled.

'_She's more like me than she realizes.'_

…

What did she do? _How _could she have done that? How could she have sent _Damon_ off to be with _Katherine?_ Katherine of all people!

"It's my fault," Elena whispered sadly, staring at the place where Damon once sat. "It's my fault, it's always my fault."

…

"Dammoonnn," Katherine called out in a sing-songy voice, "Where aarree you? It's time to leave."

Katherine felt a breeze and turned around. Damon stood before her, his face, as always, was an unreadable mask, but Katherine could tell that Damon was truly troubled about whatever happened between him and Elena.

"Look," Katherine said adoringly, reaching up to caress the side of Damon's face. Damon stood unmoving.

"She was nothing. She was just playing with you. It was always Stefan."

"Yes," came Damon's distant voice. He was obviously somewhere far away, "It's always Stefan."

And with that, the two vampires turned and walked away. Away from Mystic Falls. Away from Stefan.

Away from Elena.

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><p><strong>Reviews are loved :D They keep me going<strong>


	5. Epilogue

**A/N: First I want to apologize for the_ shittiest_ chapter I have ever written in my life. I'm sorry, but I couldn't think of anyway else to end this story. I felt like it kept on dragging on and on and on...I _hate_ hate HATE how this chapter turned out...T_T Absolutely terrible epilogue...  
><strong>

**Disclaimer: I don't own Vampire Diaries.**

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><p>Final Goodbye<strong>: <strong>Epilogue**  
><strong>

"_Damon?"_

"_Yes, my dear Elena?" he replied._

"_You'll be with me until the end, right?"_

_I hesitated._

"_I promise you, Elena."_

_No one knew about this conversation._

_...  
><em>

"She's gone, Damon."

_No, no, no, no._

"Don't lie to me!" Damon snarled, whipping his head towards his brother. Stefan was staring at him, green eyes red-rimmed.

"She's gone," Stefan choked.

"No! She isn't! I would have felt it! In here!" He thunked a fist where his heart should have been.

"Think about it!" Stefan cried out, "It's been 70 years! _Seventy years_ since you last saw her! Seventy years I spent with her, watching her look out the window hopefully, searching. Searching for _you_, Damon. _Every night_! She waited for you _every night!_"

"I left because of her!" Damon snarled, fighting back angry tears, "She was supposed to be happy! Live a normal life without me!"

"What about Katherine," Stefan asked, deathly quiet, "Elena said you left because you wanted to be with Katherine."

"That's bullshit! Yeah I told her that! She didn't want me gone, so I had to tell her that! It was for the best! I left Katherine a year after we split town! I couldn't stand looking at Elena's face in _her _body!" Damon roared in frustration.

"Didn't seem like it was the best for Elena! She wanted you, Damon! She _told_ me that a month after you left! She broke up with me for _you!_ She wanted you to come back! But, you didn't even care! She could have _died_ and you wouldn't have even known if it wasn't for me!" Damon could tell how much it hurt Stefan to confess that to him.

"Why do you think I didn't visit." Damon asked, dead quiet, "So I wouldn't be tempted to go back to her! She meant the world to me!"

"Well maybe you should have told her that _before_ she died! She _killed_ herself, Damon! She told me that the pain without you was to much to bear and she couldn't handle it anymore! It's _your_ fault she's gone, Damon! It's always your fault when shit like this happens! You only think of yourself!"

Damon choked on a sob, "She wasn't supposed to do that!"

"Exactly," Stefan said coldly, "She wasn't."

Stefan left Damon after that and that was the last time Damon saw any connection with Mystic Falls. Damon turned around, and walked away.

….

Damon spent the rest of his life wandering the planet, looking for something, anything that made him feel half as alive as _she _made him feel. Nothing ever did, though, even with all of the new and amazing things that came up.

He witnessed life at its worst, with terrorists and wars. And he witnessed life at its best, with newborn children and the memories of Elena's laugh.

Nothing mattered, though. Nothing mattered without Elena.

That's why, when his time finally came, when he walked carelessly into an open fire with profound thought in his mind, he ended his life with a smile on his face.

"_I'm coming Elena."_

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><p><strong>AN: I know it's terrible...but please no flames T_T It'll kill me...Sorry for the crappy epilogue for this story *is ashamed and dodges tomatoes***_  
><em>


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